Temasek-Backed Tikehau Buys French Retail Assets for $215M, Finalises Nikko Tie-Up

Tikehau Capital, the Paris-based alternatives investment manager backed by Singaporean state-owned investor Temasek Holdings, has agreed to buy a portfolio of 30 French hypermarket and supermarket properties from troubled grocery store operator Groupe Casino for over €200 million ($215 million).

Under the terms of the binding agreement, Tikehau will acquire the properties, which are leased to French retailers Intermarché, Carrefour, Auchan and Casino, as well as ancillary lots within the complexes, some of which have development potential, according to Groupe Casino.

“This transaction will reduce Groupe Casino’s financial debt to the bondholders of its subsidiary Quatrim,” Groupe Casino said in a release on Monday. Tikehau declined to comment on the deal.

The acquisition by Euronext Paris-listed Tikehau comes days after the fund manager finalised a strategic partnership with Tokyo-based investment giant Nikko Asset Management under which the Japanese player acquired an equity stake in Tikehau, and the rights to distribute the company’s products in Japan and other markets, with the two parties also establishing an Asia-focused joint venture.

European Supermarket Buildout

As part of the agreement, Groupe Casino will continue to manage the portfolio of properties for a period of five years. The portfolio spans roughly 280,000 square metres in total, according to a Tikehau spokesperson.

The compensation set to be paid in installments, with the final amount to be transferred upon closing of the transaction, which is expected in the second half of 2024. The deal also provides for subsequent earnout payments in the future.

Groupe Casino, which also goes by Casino, Guichard-Perrachon S.A., has been selling assets to raise cash for a debt restructuring that was completed in March, which resulted in a takeover of the troubled grocery store operator by a group of investors led by Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky.

The acquisition follows Tikehau’s purchase in November of five supermarket properties in Italy from Italian grocery operator Unicoop Tirreno in a €37 million sale and leaseback transaction.

France recorded €11.6 billion worth of commercial real estate transactions in 2023, representing a 56 percent decline from the previous year, according to Colliers. Retail properties accounted for €2.9 billion of last year’s transaction volume, representing roughly 25 percent of total investment, with most of those deals involving shopping centres, according to the consultancy.

Ramping Up in Asia

Tikehau, which managed €44.4 billion of global assets as of March across private debt, private equity, real estate, and public markets strategies, has recently been ramping up in Asia.

In April, the fund manager announced preparations to open an office in Hong Kong – its fourth location in Asia Pacific after Singapore, Seoul and Tokyo, and its seventeenth location globally. The opening of the Hong Kong office was pending regulatory approval as of 26 April.

In that same announcement, Tikehau revealed a partnership with Flow Capital, a Hong Kong-based private credit platform affiliated with New World Development chief executive and executive vice chairman Adrian Cheng which specialises in Asia Pacific real estate debt investments.

That partnership aims to explore private credit co-investment opportunities in Asia and Europe by leveraging Tikehau’s institutional relationships and Flow Capital’s networks among institutional partners and family offices in Greater China.

Tikehau’s partnership with Nikko Asset Management was finalised last week, and involves the Japanese firm being granted exclusive distribution rights for Tikehau’s products, including its European direct lending and private debt secondaries strategies, primarily in Japan, and non-exclusive distribution rights in other selected Asian markets.

“This collaboration marks a significant milestone for Tikehau Capital in Asia, following 10 years of expansion in the region, with the successive openings of our offices in Singapore, South Korea, Japan and the upcoming opening in Hong Kong,” said Tikehau co-founders Antoine Flamarion and Mathieu Chabran and Tikehau’s Asia chairman, Bruno de Pampelonne. “With Nikko Asset Management’s extensive distribution network and market intelligence, combined with our robust expertise in private markets, we are well-positioned to enhance our presence and drive growth in this dynamic region.”

That partnership will also see the establishment of a Singapore-based joint venture by the end of 2024, with the partners aiming to tap growing investor demand for Asia-focused private asset investments, beginning with a dedicated strategy focused on decarbonisation in Asia. Nikko is also in the process of acquiring an equity stake in Tikehau as part of that agreement.

In February, Tikehau and UOB-Kay Hian, the brokerage arm of Singaporean financial services firm UOB Group, announced a partnership to jointly launch an Asia Pacific private credit strategy focused on providing financing to mid-sized corporates across the region, with the partners each contributing $50 million to the partnership.

Temasek acquired an equity stake in Tikehau in 2016, with the Singaporean investment giant holding a 4.5 percent interest in the fund manager as of December.